Singapore currently has one of highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. To curb the further spread of COVID-19, Singapore government announced a temporary nationwide lockdown (circuit breaker). In view of restrictions of patients’ mobility and the enforcement of safe distancing measures, usual in-person visits were discouraged. Here we describe how diabetes care delivery was ad hoc redesigned applying a telehealth strategy. We describe a retrospective assessment of subjects with diabetes, with and without COVID-19 infection, during the circuit breaker period of 7th April to 1st June 2020 managed through Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s telehealth platform. The virtual health applications consisted of telephone consultations, video telehealth visits via smartphones, and remote patient monitoring. The TTSH team intensively managed 298 diabetes patients using a telehealth strategy. The group comprised of (1) 84 inpatient COVID-19 patients with diabetes who received virtual diabetes education and blood glucose management during their hospitalisation and follow-up via phone calls after discharge and (2) 214 (n=192 non-COVID; n=22 COVID-positive) outpatient subjects with suboptimal glycaemic control who received intensive diabetes care through telehealth approaches. Remote continuous glucose monitoring was applied in 80 patients to facilitate treatment adjustment and hypoglycaemia prevention. The COVID-19 pandemic situation mooted an immediate disruptive transformation of healthcare processes. Virtual health applications were found to be safe, effective and efficient to replace current in-person visits.

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使用远程医疗策略在新加坡进行COVID-19大流行期间的糖尿病护理

新加坡目前是东南亚确诊的COVID-19病例数最高的国家之一。为遏制COVID-19的进一步蔓延，新加坡政府宣布在全国范围内进行临时封锁（断路器）。考虑到患者行动不便的限制和安全隔离措施的实施，不鼓励通常的面对面拜访。在这里，我们描述了如何应用远程医疗策略临时重新设计糖尿病护理服务。我们描述了由Tan Tock Seng Hospital的远程医疗平台管理的2020年4月7日至6月1日的断路器期间对患有或不患有COVID-19感染的糖尿病患者的回顾性评估。虚拟健康应用程序包括电话咨询，通过智能手机进行的视频远程医疗访问以及远程患者监视。TTSH团队使用远程医疗策略集中管理了298位糖尿病患者。该小组包括（1）84名住院的COVID-19糖尿病患者，他们在住院期间接受了虚拟糖尿病教育和血糖管理，出院后通过电话随访；（2）214名（n = 192非COVID； n = 22 COVID阳性）门诊患者血糖控制不佳，他们通过远程医疗方法接受了深入的糖尿病护理。对80例患者进行了远程连续葡萄糖监测，以促进治疗调整和预防低血糖症。COVID-19大流行情况引发了医疗流程的即时破坏性转变。人们发现，虚拟健康应用程序可以安全，有效和高效地代替当前的亲自就诊。